Cochlear implants are devices that include an implantable stimulator containing electronic circuitry, a coil for power and information transfer, and an electrode (and perhaps a counter electrode) usually placed under the temporalis muscle. The electrode may consist of single, double, or even triple branches. Each branch typically originates at the stimulator and is directed toward single or multiple cochleostomies through a mastoidectomy and a posterior tympanatomy, or through an alternate surgical approach such as a suprameatal approach. The single or multiple electrode branches are designed to go into the inner ear of the patient and stimulate neural tissue.
There are, in addition to such inner ear applications, concomitant applications to direct neural stimulation that would be beneficial to the patient. Some of these concomitant applications take place in the middle ear. These applications necessitate the placement of a device in the middle ear cavity without disrupting the cochlear implant electrodes that have been inserted into the inner ear.